History: German-English school building still in use

By Paula Allen :
April 11, 2013
: Updated: April 12, 2013 11:01am

The German-English School closed its doors in 1903, and a series of tenants occupied it.

What was the German-English School in or around San Antonio, which had an ex-students' reunion here in May 1934, as mentioned on an artifact I have. I've been unable to find any information on this school here or wherever it was.

The German-English School opened May 17, 1858, in a hotel on West Commerce Street. The founders were German immigrants who wanted to provide a bilingual (later trilingual) classical education for the children of their community, more than two decades before San Antonio's first public high school was established (1879) and a quarter-century before the University of Texas was founded (1883).

Taught in both German and English, students would be prepared to take their place in San Antonio's business community during the period when one-third of the city's residents were of German birth or descent. Those who wanted to train for the professions in Germany would be fully conversant in the language of instruction. Later, Spanish was added, and all three languages were taught in rotation.

The school was financed with contributions from members of the Casino Club, a social and civic club whose members were primarily of German origin. They raised the funds for the school's first building on South Alamo Street, where the cornerstone of the simple limestone structure was laid Nov. 10, 1859, says the Handbook of Texas. Within the next 10 years, despite the interruption and privations of the Civil War, two more buildings had been added. Students who lived too far away to walk to school rode horses and tied them under the blackberry trees, At recess the younger children played games or built pebble houses in a dusty yard. A picnic, usually held in May at San Pedro Springs, was an annual highlight.

The German-English School was a “pay institution,” funded by tuition and donations, according to a historical article in the San Antonio Express, March 22, 1931. Unlike most early private schools here, it was neither a proprietary nor a church-supported institution. In “constant financial struggle,” the school was kept afloat “through the generosity of individual who made loans, undismayed by the doubt of its financial success.”

The school was coeducational, although older students were separated by gender. A seven-year curriculum took students from primary through advanced classes. Besides languages, the curriculum included geography, mathematics, poetry and singing. The school year lasted 11 months, with August off, weeklong vacations at Christmas and Easter and half-days on Wednesday and Saturday. Students who misbehaved might be hit with a leather-covered stick, passed among classrooms as needed.

“Pitied by all the other junior schools” for its aging, rough-hewn quarters, Page moved out when its own new building was completed, and San Antonio Junior College — ancestor institution of San Antonio College and the Alamo Community College District — took its place in 1926 and remained there for 25 years.

From 1928 to well into the 1930s, the college hosted an annual reunion for alumni of the German-English School, including many whose families had distinguished themselves in local business, politics and civic betterment. Names such as Bell, Groos, Herff, Hertzberg, McAllister, Richter, Steves and Terrell appear as attendees at the events, which featured group photos, reminiscences and singing of German folk songs learned in school.

Though we may now look upon the old school buildings as well-preserved examples of vernacular architecture in indigenous materials, former students remembered, however fondly, “the gloomy coloring ... and unpretentious ugliness” of their alma mater, according to a reunion story in the Express, May 23, 1935. Fortunately, near-continuous occupancy helped to preserve the structures. The former German-English School was the office of HemisFair '68 and is now part of the Marriott Plaza Hotel, where the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1992. As the hotel's Conference Center, the old school's main building remains an event venue.

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